The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, an input apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program for processing input information in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment.
In recent years, it is becoming increasingly popular to connect a PC (Personal Computer) to a display of a television or the like and use it while relaxing in a living room. However, a desk or a table is not always in a room to relax in, such as the living room. Therefore, for usability of the PC, an application that eliminates a keyboard operation as much as possible has been developed, and, for a mouse, a pointing device (3-dimensional pointing device) that enables a pointer to move by being freely swung 3-dimensionally is starting to appear.
Incidentally, in a case of use in the living room, which is a recently-popular style, an operation is made at a position distant from a screen display, so operability may deteriorate. In the case of the 3-dimensional pointing device in particular, there is a fear that operability may deteriorate due to a human factor such as a hand movement, as compared to a pointing device such as a mouse of the related art, which is operated on a desk.
In this regard, as means for improving the operability, there has been devised a method of improving operability by making a pointer velocity variable when the pointer is moved to a specific object (or an area indicating a specific object) to be selected, such as an icon displayed on a screen (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1. Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. Hei 7-36243 (paragraph [0008], FIG. 2)
However, because, when other target objects are positioned on a path of a pointer moving to a specific target object that is supposed to be selected, a pointer velocity is lowered each time the pointer passes the target objects, there is a fear that operability may be rather deteriorated since reaching the target object that is supposed to be selected is time-consuming. In addition, because avoiding this involves being conscious of the movement path each time the pointer is moved, the operability deteriorates for sure.